It's not even about living the life, he just flat out never wanted to test himself against the best. He's always been a coward, like last night showed.
Yeah he's one of those "what if" fighters. Even though he's accomplished a lot compared to many, he could have done so much more if he lived the life.
Tbf up until after the Eubank fight his training and nutrition was subpar. Think it was general knowledge that he was eating ready meals from supermarkets throughout fight camp and all of that showed in his physique and stamina.
Brook. Took on better fighters and his best win abroad tops Bill's. The Porter win has aged well. Brook is a welter and stood and banged with Golovkin in his prime. Billy actually came out and stated that he's waiting for him to get old.
I actually think BJS overachieved as a professional, British, Commonwealth, European and two weight World Champion. For the majority of his career he never really lived the life outside of the ring. Ben Davison said in a recent podcast interview that in the first fight he worked with Billy for his weight was a real struggle and he was a world champion at this point. Similar to Frankie Gavin had he trained right he may have achieved more, and he probably could of won a world title at Light Middle. The key difference between Frankie Gavin and Saunders though was that BJS was matched superbly from the Bradley Price fight right through to the Andy Lee fight. After that his career went the same way as Kell Brooks, mediocre title fights where he wasn't tested and his learning curve plateaued until he was thrown in at a level he was unprepared for and could not compete at. Outside of Canelo, no one BJS boxed after he became a World Champion was as good as Andy Lee and he actually regressed and went backwards ability wise. It's the same in any field, if you put Kevin De Bruyne in the championship for five years and then asked him to play in the premier league he would struggle to keep up.
Been some disgraceful comments online and some on this forum regarding whether Saunders quit ffs!!! He was producing the fight of his life and starting to really have success in there, I had him 1 round up going into the 8th, I dont think he wasted his talent because he showed he was at that level until that shot. He took loads of shots flush to the chin and to the body and showed his toughness without a doubt but saying he quit makes me furious he literally had in a split second the side of his face caved in..............just let that sink in and think what would be going through your mind if that had happened to you...... but what did saunders do..... He stayed on his feet from that shot somehow and spent the next 2 mins taking severe punishment to the face without taking a knee or going over, how he made it to the end of the round with that injury was incredible and people are questioning his heart or whether he quit ? It's truly pathetic He was in no physical condition to carry on so why are people wanting him to go out and probably end up being killed, one more shot to that part of his skull without seeing it coming could have been life threatening. I love boxing and the skill level from both fighters last night was a joy to watch , bjs imo should be applauded I truly hope the lad is ok.
the fight of his life? Hardly he was obv doing better than you expected so you are over playing it. he can not, no excuse, ever not continue in a fight after all his comments, so by his own standards he quit.
If you’re “winning every round until you get punched in the face so hard you can’t continue” then you were never winning. “he was winning the fight until he QUIT/got koed” remains the most nonsensical thing I read repeatedly from boxing fans. SANDERS was never at any point winning that fight, doesn’t matter how many rounds he won.
He hasn't fought the opponents he should have but he's certainly not underachieved. I'd like to see him face Callum Smith. Or maybe Andrade.
realistically i dont think extra training would have done him much good last night Canelo is just built different, if Billy Joe was in peak condition maybe he finishes the fight but still loses on points
Usually totally agree but billys been one of them thats actually encouraged guys to go on with these injuries. Hes put other people in danger or encouraged it then jumped out the ring when its been his turn. You cant really have it both ways...by all means stop the fight but stop encouraging other guys to fight on with these types of injuries.
I m not too sure of it but i,ve seen billy on social media working at different gyms etc...hes put the hard work in over the years. Probably completely right about the nutrition side of things but tbh imo...that side of its the 2 percent. Still wouldnt beat canelo etc if he,d ate chicken and veg every day of his life. Even the guys with the best nutrition start to struggle to stay in the same weight class they,ve been in since probably late teens eventually. Going up to 168 finished billy joe imo...but the truth was he wouldnt have beat the top guys at 160 anyway as in canelo and golovkin. Hence why he stayed away from them.
On a side note how weird of a person is that Andrade. I now understand Liam Williams when he said the same about him before his fight with him.
